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i CIRCUIT BREAKER PoR IILEGTIIIOLAMPS. No. 247,103. Patented Sept. 13, 1881.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

vCHARLES G. PERKINS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO TEIE UNITED STATES ELECTRIC LIGHTING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CIRCUIT-BREAKER FOR ELECTRIC LAMPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 247,103, dated September 13, 1881.

Application tiled February 4, 1881. (No model.) I

To all lwhom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES G. PERKINS, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Circuit-Breaker for Electric Lamps, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in that class ofswitches forincandescent electric lamps in which the break is effected by the snap or in- Io stantaneous reaction of a spring when released from contact with a conducting point or plate; and it consists in mechanical details for effecting this, the principal features ot' which are a ratchet-wheel having both conducting andinsulating teeth combined in operative relation with a spring pawl or detent, which acts as a contact-maker with the conducting portions of the ratchet, and by engagement with the insulating-teeth prevents the ratchet from being 2o turned backward when the pawl has been rcleased from contact with the said metallic portions.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l isa view, partly in section, of the switch as applied to the base or socket of an incandescent lamp; Fig. 2, a front view of the ratchet-wheel forming apart ot' the circuit-breaking mechanism; Fig. 3, a perspective of the contact lever or pawl, and Fig. 4 a part section of a modified 3o form of the same.

Similar letters refer to corresponding parts in the several figures.

A metal shaft, E, is ljournaled in opposite sides of the insulating-base B, and carries an S-shaped metal piece, D, on each side of which insulating ratchet-disks D', of a diameter less than the length of D, are fixed. The teeth of the disks D' are four in number, and arranged to project beyond thenarrow portion of piece D. Below the ratchet D', in the chambered base B, is a V-shape'd pawl, F, having one ofits arms widened at j', and is pivoted, as shown, to a standard fixed to the lower part, Bf, of the lamp-base. A spring, S, attached to or Iitting` in a recess in the part B', actuates the pawl F and keeps the same in engagement with the ratchet. The lever F is connected with one ot the line-wires through spring S, and when it is depressed by the contact of one of the projections D the circuit is completed to shaft E, and from thence to one of the terminals of the lamp. It may be stated that the other terminal is in permanent electrical connection with one of theline-wires, either through the bracket or by means of an additional wire connection. To break the circuit the shaft E is turned a quarter revolution. This releases the pawl F from D and allows its widened end to engage with the insulating-ratchets Dl and prevent them from being turned backward.

Instead of a swinging pawl, I sometimes employa spring-seated contact-stop with a broadened end, as shown in Fig. 4, which acts as a detent with ratchet D' when not depressed by projections D, and thus prevents the shaft 6 5' from being turned in both directions.

The principal advantages secured by the constructions above described are, first, that the circuit cannot be completed by turning the key backward, so that when the circuit is 7o broken it must be accomplished by an instantaneous snap or reaction of the spring-pawl as it leaves the conducting portion ofthe ratchet; secondly, that the contact-spring cannot be injured by the attempts ofincautious persons to turn the key backward, as might be the case with the lamps n-oW in use; thirdly, good conductingmetals which do not possess the requisite resista-nce for contact-springs may be employed with a spiral spring of steel or simi- 8o lar metal; and, finally, the arrangementot the parts is compact and dura-ble.

Having thus described the nature and object of my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- 8 1. The combination, in an electric -light l switch, of a ratchet having metallic projections and insulating-teeth in the intervals between the same and a pawl or detent for engaging with the insulating-teeth when released v 9o from contact with the metallic projections, as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combina-tion of insulating-ratchet D and metallic plate D, secured together to the same shaft, V-shaped contact-pawl F, having a broadened bearing-surface, f, and spring S, arranged substantially in the manner described.

ln testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 31st day of January, roo 1881.

CHARLES G. PERKINS. 

